Four hundred and fourteen Canadian NGOs, nonprofits, and charities participated in the survey for the 2018 Global NGO Technology Report. Their responses are summarized below. The data is meant to provide benchmarks for organizations in Canada so that they can gauge whether they are ahead or behind in their use technology.

14 Stats About How NGOs in Canada Use Technology

  • 99% of NGOs in Canada have a website. Of those, 86% are mobile compatible.
  • 38% use country codes domains 27% use the .ORG. 14% use .COM. 3% use .NET. 18% use other domains.
  • 51% use WordPress as their Content Management System for their website. 10% use Drupal. 4% use Joomla. 18% use another CMS and 17% don’t know.
  • 77% of NGOs in Canada accept online donations on their website. Of those, 88% accept credit card payments. 43% accept PayPal. 19% accept direct debit payments. 1% accept digital wallet payments. 1% accept Bitcoin.
  • 35% utilize an online peer-to-peer fundraising service.
  • 58% participate in #GivingTuesday.
  • 63% of NGOs in Canada regularly send email updates and fundraising appeals to supporters and donors. Of those, 71% use an email marketing service. 17% send email via their CRM. 4% send email via BCC. 5% send email through another method and 3% don’t know.
  • 4% regularly send text messages to supporters and donors. Of those, 14% also utilize a text-to-give service for SMS fundraising.
  • 94% of NGOs in Canada have a Facebook Page and 30% have a Facebook Group. 89% have a Twitter Profile. 58% have a LinkedIn Page and 14% have a LinkedIn Group. 55% have an Instagram Profile. Other social media used are: 57% YouTube, 13% Google+, 12% Pinterest, 8% Flickr, 7% Vimeo, and 3% Tumblr.
  • 7% use messaging apps to communicate with supporters and donors. Of those, 63% use Facebook Messenger. 25% use WhatsApp. 8% use Signal. 4% use LINE. 4% use Snapchat. 4% use Viber.
  • 82% of NGOs in Canada use Microsoft Windows as their operating system on desktop and laptop computers. 13% use Apple macOS. 3% use Google Chrome OS. 1% use another operating system and 1% don’t know.
  • 37% use Apple iOS as their operating system on smartphones and tablets. 27% use Google Android. 6% use Windows Phone. 6% use another operating system and 24% don’t know.
  • 56% use a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) software to track donations and manage communications with supporters and donors. Of those, 51% use a cloud-based CRM.
  • 44% use encryption technology to protect data and communications. Of those, 36% to protect organization information. 34% to protect donor information. 24% to protect the privacy of email communications. 14% to protect the privacy of mobile communications.

About the 414 NGOs: 57% defined themselves as a small NGO. 35% as medium-sized. 8% as large. Top 5 causes: human and social services (18%), children and youth (12%), community development (11%), health and wellness (11%), and education (9%).

2018 Canadian Partner: TechSoup Canada